LAUSANNE • The coronavirus pandemic could be an opportunity to "strengthen the relevance of our Olympic movement in the world", International Olympic Committee (IOC) president Thomas Bach has said.

In a letter titled Olympism and Corona, he also called for reforms to be made to the sporting calendar, both within and outside the IOC, so as to ensure sustainability amid the Covid-19 crisis.

The sporting world has been particularly affected by the ongoing pandemic, with all major sports either postponed or cancelled.

Many associations and their affiliates have had to seek financial aid and put staff on furlough among other measures.

The IOC has also been buffeted by the turmoil, forcing it to make the unprecedented decision to postpone the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games to July next year.

It will have to make financial adjustments to cope with the impact, as will its international federations (IF), but the pandemic could be an opportunity to "strengthen the relevance of our Olympic movement in the world".

"To accomplish this, as a responsible organisation we should dare to look into the future of the world after this crisis," Bach wrote.

"History tells us that significant crises or systemic shocks, like the coronavirus pandemic, have profound and far-reaching impacts on society at large.

"We can fairly assume in the post-coronavirus society, public health will play a much more important role. Sport and physical activity make a great contribution to health.

"The post-coronavirus world will need sport, and we are ready to contribute to shaping it with our Olympic values."

On plans to consolidate its initiatives and streamline operations to cut costs, the German said: "What is clear, however, is that probably none of us will be able to sustain every single event that we were planning before this crisis hit.

"For the Olympic movement as a whole, we may also have to look more closely into the proliferation of sports events, as we already discussed at previous summits.

"The financial pressure on all the stakeholders... may require more consolidation in this respect."

This could mean a greater acceptance of e-sports in the future, especially as safe distancing measures are likely to be in place for some time.

With traditional sports on hold and likely to remain shackled even when they do return due to social distancing, e-sports has surged in popularity. Gaming-centric platform Twitch is estimated to have grown its streaming viewership by 31 per cent last month.

While the IOC has been reluctant to embrace e-sports in the past, saying just last year it was not yet ready to fully integrate it into the Olympic community, the Covid-19 situation may fast track its acceptance, Bach admitted.

Its lucrative revenue - estimated at US$1.1 billion (S$1.55 billion) this year, according to market research firm Newzoo - could also help to alleviate financial woes owing to the pandemic, which is why the IOC now wants a slice of the pie.

"We shall also have to consider what social distancing may mean for our relations with e-sports," Bach said.

"Some IFs have already been very creative by organising remote competitions.

"We encourage all our stakeholders even more urgently to consider how to govern electronic and virtual forms of their sport, explore opportunities with game publishers."

On the postponing of the Tokyo Olympics to July 23 next year, he confirmed that the IOC would be shouldering part of the additional costs resulting from the delay to the tune of "several hundred million dollars".

However, given the ongoing crisis on top of further expenses, he warned that budgeting will have to come into play as "we need to look into and review all the services that we provide for these Games".

AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE, XINHUA